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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26943955">For The Greater Good</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/skittenninja/pseuds/skittenninja'>skittenninja</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Merlin (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Kidnapping, Magic, POV Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Restraints, Whump, Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 02:41:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,107</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26943955</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/skittenninja/pseuds/skittenninja</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Whumptober 2020 Day Nine: When Merlin doesn't turn up for work one morning, the only trace of him Arthur finds is a ransom note. Arthur sets off without hesitation to rescue him, though he discovers that he is walking into a far more nefarious trap than anticipated.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Merlin &amp; Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949905</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>45</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>For The Greater Good</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The past several hours hadn’t seemed real for Arthur.</p>
<p>Not since that fateful morning where he’d come looking for Merlin, only to be greeted by Gaius, ransom note in hand.</p>
<p>There was no sign of Merlin that day, and there were no signs of whoever took him. He’d simply vanished from his room in the middle of the night without a trace, leaving behind only an empty space in Arthur’s life.</p>
<p>Gaius hadn’t needed to ask Arthur what he was going to do. It was obvious.</p>
<p>“Be careful,” was all he said the last time Arthur saw him.</p>
<p>He didn’t tell the knights about the note. About Merlin. He didn’t even tell Gwen. All of them would kill Arthur for it afterwards, because Merlin was their friend too and how could he be so <em>stupid</em> and <em>reckles</em>s, but none of it mattered.</p>
<p>Arthur needed Merlin safe and alive, and if he didn’t come alone, the dark ink upon the page had promised him that his servant would be killed immediately.</p>
<p>Gambling Merlin’s life like that was out of the question.</p>
<p>So, Arthur rode alone. He rode alone through twisting trees and scarcely traveled paths, travelling into obscurity in the name of his friend. Every plant, every rock, every patch of mud looked the same, and Arthur knew it would be easy to get lost in this never-changing patch of nature.</p>
<p>It was what Merlin’s captors were counting on if anyone tried to follow Arthur.</p>
<p>The eerie scenery was not helped by Arthur’s mind constantly inventing all the different ways they could have hurt Merlin by now. An entwined set of roots reminded him of fingers set to choke, the jagged edges of a fallen branch transforming into the hungry point of a blade, bird song shifting in pitch until it was a cacophony composed of screams of pain. Ponds were buckets of water with more than enough to drown a man, and it had never been so easy to mistake a vine for a noose.</p>
<p>Death and pain surrounded Arthur from all angles, and the only thing he could do was grip the note in his hand tighter. It was rather crumpled and tattered by this point, the marks of the forest on Arthur’s body and psyche reflected in its condition.</p>
<p>After an arduous journey, the trees finally ended in an unnatural manner. ‘Unnatural’ because there were supposed to be more, but past a certain point all plant life had been burned to ash, as if someone had drawn a line in the dirt and marked the one side for destruction. Life could not properly sustain itself here, and the only indication that there was any nearby at all was the stone fortress not too far ahead. Arthur had somehow never seen it before, and his lack of familiarity with the entire area put him ill at ease.</p>
<p>It had not been a kind journey, and this was not a kind place.</p>
<p>The horse he’d ridden to get there (one he didn’t normally ride so its absence wouldn’t arouse suspicion) wouldn’t set foot past the invisible line of ruin, moving further and further away from it each time Arthur tried to carry on.</p>
<p>Going by foot was his only option.</p>
<p>Arthur’s boots clacked against the stone path laid out in front of him, declaring his presence to anyone nearby with each and every step. When he went to step off the path, however, something stopped him. His leg hovered just above the scorched earth, body tensing as if he were about to step right into fire. Although he couldn’t explain it, every part of Arthur’s brain was screaming at him that letting his foot land would be a horrible, horrible idea.</p>
<p>This was another risk he couldn’t afford to take at the moment, so Arthur took the loud stone path the rest of the way up to the fortress.</p>
<p>The doors were already open when he managed to get there, though no one stood guard. Arthur knew, of course, that they’d been expecting him, but something about the gesture caused dread to settle in his stomach.</p>
<p>The walls were lined with torches and various weapons, all of them looking like they hadn’t been used in decades. There was one crossbow in particular that Arthur swore would crumble if he so much as breathed at it from the wrong direction, and another sword that looked like it belonged in the hands of a skeleton.</p>
<p>Arthur had a feeling he didn’t want to know where they got these weapons from.</p>
<p>He made his way through a couple more small corridors, each decorated the exact same way, before he finally came upon one that opened up into a larger room at the end.</p>
<p>Several robed figures were waiting for him there.</p>
<p>His pace quickened as he put his hand on the hilt of his sword, preparing for a fight. The hooded figures seemed to notice this, however, because once Arthur was in the room, they decided it was time to bring out their bargaining chip.</p>
<p>Arthur’s hands and legs froze as he saw he watched two of them half-drag Merlin into the room. He could barely stand up by himself, clothes dirtied with grime and blood, and he looked around the room with a swollen eye.</p>
<p>“Merlin!” Arthur cried out, immediately trying to walk towards his injured friend.</p>
<p>He didn’t get very far. Without explanation, his legs suddenly froze, rooted to the floor as if the stone was grabbing hold of him. No amount of struggling would free Arthur from his invisible bonds. He was stuck so close to Merlin and yet he’d never felt more far away.</p>
<p>“Arthur, I’m so sorry, I-“</p>
<p>“Merlin, you can make up for not polishing my armour later,” Arthur cut him off, trying his best to give Merlin a reassuring smile. “Now is not the time for apologies.”</p>
<p>Arthur knew what he had been trying to say sorry for, and he wasn’t going to hear it. He wasn’t going to let Merlin blame himself for this.</p>
<p>Arthur turned his head to the other figures, the three that weren’t holding Merlin but were instead watching the scene unfold passively.</p>
<p>“I came alone, as you instructed,” Arthur said to them, though none of them responded. “Now let him go.”</p>
<p>There was silence, and Merlin remained restrained.</p>
<p>Arthur tried again to move his feet, but the result was the same. He would have searched their faces for any trace of emotion, any sympathy he could appeal to, but their eyes were hidden by the dark hoods of their robes.</p>
<p>“If it’s money you want, I’ll pay it. Name your price and I swear I will pay it,” Arthur pleaded.</p>
<p>There was silence again, but Arthur was surprised by the response that followed.</p>
<p>“And how much do you think your servant’s life is worth?” One of the figures asked, the one standing at the centre of the group of three.</p>
<p>“I would gladly pay any amount of money you ask of me if it meant that you would let him go.”</p>
<p>“Arthur don’t-“ Merlin started, but was interrupted again.</p>
<p>“That was not the question that was asked, Arthur Pendragon,” said another figure, the one on the right this time. Arthur wouldn’t have been able to tell who had spoken if his eyes weren’t trained on them, as their voices sounded identical. “You would do well to answer honestly.”</p>
<p>The words settled in his bones like winter wind, and suddenly he understood what they were truly asking him.</p>
<p>“I can’t… I cannot put a price on his life,” Arthur replied.</p>
<p>“And why is that?”</p>
<p>Merlin seemed to understand where Arthur was going with this.</p>
<p>“Arthur, no. No no no, just tell them a number, any number, I don’t care.”</p>
<p>Arthur looked at him, feeling tears start to sting his eyes, threatening to spill over. He managed to fend them off.</p>
<p>Merlin’s eyes were pleading, begging him to say anything else, but Arthur couldn’t. He had no idea what they would do to his friend if he lied, and deep down, Arthur got the feeling they could tell when he was lying.</p>
<p>Plus, he didn’t feel the need to lie about this.</p>
<p>Arthur turned back towards the group of three.</p>
<p>“I cannot put a price on his life because there isn’t a price that could reach it. I cannot barter his life for silver or gold or any of the rarest metals because none of them come close. He is more valuable to me than any of those things could ever hope to be, and so I will not pretend that they are equals.”</p>
<p>He was met with silence again, and for a moment Arthur feared they didn’t like his answer.</p>
<p>“So what,” the one on the left finally continued, “would you be willing to offer if not material possessions?”</p>
<p>“Arthur, you don’t have to do this, <em>please</em>-“ Merlin struggled, trying to break away from the other two figures’ holds. It was in vain, due to their seemingly inhuman strength and due to the restraints that seemed to be holding his hands behind his back.</p>
<p>Arthur swallowed the lump in his throat and fought back tears once more, not because the decision pained him, but because the hurt in Merlin’s voice did.</p>
<p>“Take me instead,” Arthur offered, staring stoically ahead at the figure in the centre. “A life for a life, because my own is the only thing I have that I feel would make this even close to fair.”</p>
<p>“Arthur, no! This isn’t worth it!” Merlin screamed, continuing to struggle and continuing to fail at breaking free. “Leave me!”</p>
<p>“And let you be the hero? Come on now,” Arthur joked, trying to lighten the mood but coming up short.</p>
<p>The figure in the centre stared back at him, or seemed to anyways, and Arthur thought he saw the ghost of an unforgiving smile dance across their barely visible lips.</p>
<p>“You have done well, Arthur, and for that the boy’s life will be spared.”</p>
<p>Relief hit Arthur in a wave so big it drowned out everything else.</p>
<p>“So you’ll let him go?”</p>
<p>The figures all frowned in sync.</p>
<p>“We have never made such a promise.”</p>
<p>That wave of relief quickly turned into fear and it wasted no time in sweeping Arthur away, heart pounding as he felt his stomach twist in knots.</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“We never said that we would let your servant go. This was a test for his life.”</p>
<p>Arthur turned his head towards Merlin again, who wore a matching expression of terror. Arthur’s legs burned as he pulled and pulled against whatever magic had frozen them in place, but even his most desperate attempts did nothing to shake its hold. He watched Merlin do the same, struggle and struggle to no avail as his restraints and the figures refused to let him move even an inch closer.</p>
<p>The group of three started to make their way towards Arthur, and seeing this Merlin started to thrash about even more forcefully. Those holding him seemed to treat his efforts like a fly buzzing in their ear and nothing more.</p>
<p>“You can’t! I won’t let you!” He roared, and the determination in Merlin’s eyes was something to be feared.</p>
<p>The three figures disappeared behind Arthur for a moment, though he knew they were still there by the way they grabbed his hands and yanked them behind his back. With as much force as he possibly could, Arthur fought, doing everything in his power to move away from them.</p>
<p>The feeling of metal on his wrists and the click of a lock let him know that he had lost.</p>
<p>“Please just let him go, kill me now if you have to, I don’t care,” Arthur rambled, pointlessly trying to break through the metal with brute force.</p>
<p>“That is not the deal we made,” one of the figures behind him said, “And that is not what we have planned.”</p>
<p>Arthur felt his legs finally unfreeze, though he was never able to take a step forward. With insurmountable force, he was pulled backwards by the chains on his wrists, left to watch helplessly as the other two figures did the same to Merlin in the opposite direction.</p>
<p>The gap between them was widening and tears were streaming down his face as he screamed, both out of fear for Merlin and out of rage, but none of it mattered.</p>
<p>He had failed.</p>
<p>He had failed his mission and he had failed to fight and he had failed to escape.</p>
<p>But most importantly of all, he had failed Merlin, and that was the greatest tragedy.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Aaaah still a bit behind on prompts unfortunately, but this one was one of my favourites to write. I hope you enjoyed it!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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